(361d) Optimal Placement of Portable and Fixed Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles Charging

Smart planning is the need for the hour to smooth transitioning of dependency on fossil fuel-based vehicles to renewable energy-based vehicles. Electric Vehicles(EVs) are the most promising clean-energy transport medium in the upcoming future. These require charging facilities frequently across the city. Numerous advancements and studies are done to increase the driving range of Electric Vehicles. Some cities possess Fixed Charging Stations, but due to the continuous increase in the number of EV users, they will be overburdened. One possible solution to overcome this load is to use portable charging stations in places of increased demand. This work focuses on placing those Portable Charging Stations along with the upcoming Fixed Charging Station so that the EV charging demand can be met. Portable Charging Stations will also be beneficial to charging station owners owing to more customer coverage with lesser fixed capital costs. A Modified Genetic Algorithm is used to fit the optimal location of charging stations based on minimizing the distance of demand points from their nearest charging station. The shortest path was found using Dijkstra’s Algorithm. The algorithm was performed over the map of an Indian city to analyze the realistic outcomes. It can also be extended to any city. The run was performed for different numbers of Portable and Fixed Charging stations so that smart investment decisions could be made.